Download three Men Study Guide May 9 final 4

STUDY GUIDE
2004
CONTAINS ONTARIO CURRICULUM SUPPORT MATERIAL
THREE MEN
ON A HORSE
by
John Cecil Holm and George Abbott
Education Partner
PRESENTS
Three Men on a Horse
by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott
This study guide for Three Men on a Horse contains background information for the play, suggested themes and topics
for discussion, and curriculum-based lessons that are designed by educators and theatre professionals.
The lessons and themes for discussion are organized in modules that can be used independently or interdependently according to your class’s level and time availability.
The general information is on white paper and the lessons are
on green.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Players ..............................................................................3
Running Time .........................................................................3
The Authors ........................................................................ 4-6
THIS GUIDE WAS WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY DENIS
JOHNSTON, DEBRA MCLAUCHLAN, AND BARBARA WORTHY. ADDITIONAL MATERIALS WERE PROVIDED BY SIMON
BRADBURY, JIM MEZON, AND CAMERON PORTEOUS.
Director’s Notes .....................................................................7
The Story .................................................................................7
The Characters ........................................................................8
Essay.........................................................................................9
Classroom Application
Before Attending the Play .............................................10-16
THREE MEN ON A HORSE
Previews April 24
Opens May 8
Closes October 29
For a calendar of performances check:
www.shawfest.com
After Attending the Play................................................17-19
Glossary of Theatre Terms…………...………………...21
Response Sheet………………………………………..22
2
The Players
Audrey Trowbridge ..........................................................................................Catherine McGregor
Erwin Trowbridge ........................................................................................................ Kevin Bundy
Clarence Dobbins ............................................................................................... Douglas E. Hughes
Tailor/Delivery Boy/Al ...................................................................................................... Al Kozlik
Harry.................................................................................................................................Peter Millard
Charlie ..................................................................................................................................Peter Hutt
Frankie .................................................................................................................................Jeff Lillico
Patsy............................................................................................................................Simon Bradbury
Mabel .............................................................................................................................Glynis Ranney
Moses..............................................................................................................................Kevin Dennis
Gloria Gray........................................................................................................................Jillian Cook
Hotel Maid.................................................................................................................... Darcy Dunlop
Mr. Carver................................................................................................................ Anthony Bekenn
Directed by ......................................................................................................................... Jim Mezon
Designed by .......................................................................................................... Cameron Porteous
Lighting designed by................................................................................................. Louise Guinand
Running Time
APPROX. 2HRS. 45 MINS INCLUDING TWO INTERMISSIONS
Production History
Three Men on a Horse opened on Broadway in January 1935 and ran for over 800 performances. A durable classic of the American theatre, it has enjoyed three Broadway revivals, including one in 1993 that starred television’s “odd couple,” Tony Randall and Jack Kluman. It also appeared on Broadway as the musical Let It Ride (1961).
Costume sketch for Mabel by Cameron Porteous
Costume sketch for Audrey by Cameron Porteous
3
“Mister Abbott” and the Midas Touch
George Abbott 1887-1995
Excerpts from the programme essay written by Don B. Wilmeth for the
Shaw’s 2004 production of Three Men on a Horse
Everyone called this theatrical giant, now a Broadway legend,
“Mister Abbott” -- even Presidents of the United States, and
the name will remain a prominent one in U.S. theatrical circles
for many reasons. Even if his theatrical accomplishments are
partially forgotten, which is doubtful, his name certainly will be
remembered because annually the
Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers bestows an honour called
the “Mister Abbott Award” on an
exceptional New York stage director.
If you’ve done your math correctly,
you have no doubt noted that George
Francis Abbott, who as an actor, first
opened on Broadway in 1913, playing
a drunken collegian in Misleading Lady,
and didn’t quit until the mid-1990s,
died at age 107! Up to 1987 his name
appeared prominently on theatre programmes for more than 120 productions. (In 1994, a year before his
death, he attended pre-Broadway rehearsals for the revival of Damn Yankees, which he originally directed in
1955).
George Abbott
Abbott’s protean presence was felt as
an actor, writer, producer, director, and play doctor, for he
possessed the rare talent of making many a faulty script work.
Indeed, this magic touch - one might even say a midas touch seemed to apply to any theatrical job he accepted. Certainly his
talent as a theatre director was known by all as the “Abbott
touch,” which, as one writer explains, was an uncanny ability to
keep his shows spinning at a brisk clip, although Abbott himself downplayed this successful directorial technique, claiming
that all he did was to drill his actors to “say their final syllables.” In truth, this touch also meant bringing to the table taste,
artistic judgment, and a sure sense of “size” - how much to do
and when to stop. The result of his “touch” was extraordinarily
successful, especially when faced with a vehicle, like Three Men
on a Horse, that was a farcical exploration of a fantasy. It was
not unusual for Abbott to have three hits running on Broadway simultaneously; twice (in 1934 and 1939) he directed five
different Broadway plays that opened in the same year. It is a
telling statistic that during an extraordinary fifteen-year
stretch (1948-62), Abbott shows won forty Broadway Tony
awards, including five for himself (as
author, director, or both). He was an
indefatigable worker. He would return
home from a rehearsal of one show to
rewrite another; he would frequently
leave the rehearsal of one musical to
cast another. Yet he was always mindful of living a balanced, abstemious
life.
In the mid-1930s Abbott collaborated
with an actor named Cecil Holm who
had written a comedy called Hobby
Horses. It lacked structure and, as Abbott later confided, was without a
suitable last act. Warner Brothers
studios promised to back the project
if it could be properly written and
directed; in stepped “Mister Abbott.”
In his autobiography Abbott writes “I
could see very clearly what was
needed. The notion that a little greeting-card writer could tell
by intuition what horse would win a race had to be carried on
to its extreme, to be blown up like a balloon; but at the same
time it had to be logical enough for the audience to accept it.
I thought of a way to do this and began work immediately.”
Abbott also thought up the title of Three Men on a Horse, replacing Holm’s Hobby Horse. The play, despite a slow start,
turned into a major Broadway success, soon with three road
companies and a London production.
The Broadway production also established Abbott’s reputation for excellence in casting and for discovering new, outstanding talent. In this production the great Sam Levene appeared as the head gangster Patsy (one of three diehard gamblers “on a horse”); Shirley Booth had one of her early lead4
“Mister Abbott, continued
ing roles, the tough moll Mabel; and Garson Kanin, later the
the author of such well-knows plays as Born Yesterday, served
as an assistant director to Abbott and played Al, the photographer. Abbott later confessed to having had a “Pygmalion
complex,” with a clear preference for working with young,
unknown actors. “You’re always better off if you can do
without a star,” he once stated. “Besides saving money, it
saves wear and tear on the nervous system.”
Abbott never gave up on life or activity in the theatre. At 92 he wrote his first - and last - novel, Tryout, a melodramatic look at post-World War II theatrical life, termed by
one critic “an enjoyable potboiler.” Halfway through his 99th
year he was working on two new plays (written between
rounds of golf), one of which he co-directed off-Broadway; a
week and a half before his death he was dictating revisions
for what he hoped would be a revival of Pajama Game. In
1983, when he was 96, Abbott married his third wife, Joy
Valderrama, forty years his junior. They had met twenty-five
years earlier when she was working as a Hawaiian dancer in a
New Jersey nightclub. How typical. And yet how anomalous,
for Abbott, at 6’ 3”, was a lanky austere presence with surprisingly puritanical habits for someone in show business. He
looked more like a preacher or a banker than a flamboyant
theatre director or producer. It was often suggested that he
was the most tightfisted man in the theatre. Regardless, the
history of Broadway - and especially the heyday of the American musical - thanks to the unstinting energies, optimism,
and contributions of “Mister Abbott”, is in many ways also a
history of this amazing theatre artist: he was Broadway!
A Corresponding Scholar of the Shaw Festival, Don B.
Wilmeth taught at Brown University In Providence,
Rhode Island, for 36 years, retiring in 2003 as the Asa
Messer Distinguished Professor Emeritus. He is the CoEditor of the three-volume Cambridge History of
American Theatre and is currently editing a new edition
of the Cambridge Guide to American Theatre. He is
Vice President of the International Shaw Society.
George Abbott (1887-1995)
Actor, director, playwright, producer and “play doctor”
Abbott contributed to over 130 Broadway productions in a career that spanned most of the twentieth century: here is a selected few:
Boy Meets Girl (1935), On Your Toes (1936), Room Service (1937), The Boys From Syracuse (1938), Pal Joey (1940, and part of this year’s season at the Festival), Sweet Charity (1942), On the Town (1944), High Button Shoes (1947), Call Me Madam (1950), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
(1951), Me and Juliet (1953), Pajama Game (1954), Damn Yankees (1955), New Girl in Town (1957), Once Upon a Mattress (1959), Fiorella!
(1959, for which he shared the Pulitzer Prize), Tenderloin (1960), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Never Too Late
(1962), Flora, the Red Menace (1965), and How Now, Dow Jones (1967). In the 1950s he adapted for the screen Where’s Charley, Damn
Yankees, and The Pajama Game.
An autobiography entitled Mister Abbott was published in 1963, and a gala tribute entitled George Abbott: A Celebration played for one
night on Broadway in May 1976.
Well done, Mister Abbott.
5
John Cecil Holm
(1904 -1981)
JOHN CECIL HOLM (1904-1981) was born in Philadelphia,
and acted in plays at West Philadelphia High School and with
the University of Pennsylvania’s Wig and Mask Club. After
leaving university he spent almost two years acting with regional stock companies. In 1926 he caught his first big break,
understudying Lee Tracy in the leading role in Broadway - coauthored by George Abbott - and playing it on tour for six
months. In 1928 he again understudied Tracy in a hit comedy, this time The Front Page, and played the lead on Broadway for several performances that winter.
Photo by David Cooper
While continuing to act in Broadway productions, Holm began writing a play he called Hobby Horses. Revised by director
George Abbott and entitled Three Men on a Horse, it opened
on Broadway in 1935 and became one of America’s most
popular comedies of the decade. Although he directed the
London and Chicago productions of the play, thereafter
Holm found himself more in demand as a writer than as an
actor or director. His produced plays included Brighten the
Corner (1945), Gramercy Ghost (1951), The Southwest Corner
(1955), and books for the musicals Best Foot Forward (1941)
and Let It Ride (1961, a musical version of Three Men on a
Horse). He also published a childhood memoir entitled Sunday
Best (1942) and a fantasy novel McGarrity and the Pigeons
(1947). He wrote for television dramas and soap operas in the
1950s before returning to act on Broadway, for regional theatres, and in television commercials.
6
Director’s Notes
by Jim Mezon
The Great Depression in which Three Men on
a Horse is set was a bit before my time, but
not before my father’s. He grew up in the
middle of it - a young man raised on a farm
on the prairies. No money, no work, little
hope, and a lot of dust.
He would tell me stories of “riding the rails”
across the West, looking for a job - any job living outdoors with others who were also
out of work and out of luck. They would
always ride on top of the boxcars because
there was less chance of being found by the
private police (the “bulls”) employed by the
railroads. They would thread their belts
through the metal grid on top of the boxcar
so that they could sleep without falling off.
When my father told stories of the hardships
they faced, however, there was always a certain smile in his eyes. “It was tough,” he said,
“but we had fun.”
There’s a moment near the end of Pygmalion
when Higgins tries to persuade Eliza to return to his home in Wimpole Street. “What
am I to come back for?” she asks. He replies
simply, “For the fun of it.” Perhaps like my
father and Higgins and this play’s hero Erwin, there’s something to be said for doing
things for the fun of it. It’s a simple answer,
but perhaps life needn’t be as complicated as
we like to make it.
Jim Mezon
The Story
The play begins in a small suburban house in Ozone Heights,
New Jersey, the home of a young couple named Erwin and
Audrey Trowbridge.
Erwin works in an office where he writes verses for greeting
cards, and this morning he’s feeling the pressure of having to
come up with 67 new Mother’s Day poems by the next day.
As if this weren’t enough, Audrey finds a notebook in which
Erwin has written some cryptic names and numbers, and she
leaps to the conclusion that he is seeing other women. But
these names do not belong to girls, he explains: they belong
to horses!
Erwin has taken to picking race-track winners as a harmless
pastime, the way that some people might do crosswords. He
tells Audrey he wouldn’t consider really gambling, as they can
barely get by on his salary as it is. But he keeps track of the
money that he might have won and it’s a whopping sum,
several times his annual income. Frantic about work deadlines looming, Erwin flies off the handle when another of
Audrey’s unexpected shopping bills arrives. Instead of going
to the office, he starts bar-hopping in the city, where he
meets a group of small-time gamblers who are down on their
luck - until they discover Erwin’s remarkable gift for picking
winners!
7
The Characters
Erwin works very conscientiously at a job, writing verses for
a greeting card company - a job that other people might consider trivial. Dutiful, serious, and honest, he carefully keeps
track of all household spending and questions his wife’s frequent need for new outfits.
Audrey is devoted to her husband and also sees no fault in
her brother. She likes to spend money on her appearance
and often shops impulsively. She never keeps problems to
herself, and calls upon her brother whenever anything goes
wrong.
Clarence is a rather unsuccessful businessman with grandiose plans that never seem to materialize. Very protective of
his sister, he has always been suspicious of Erwin’s honesty
and intentions. He has very definite ideas about right and
wrong, and has no sense of humour.
Frankie, who also lives in the hotel, is Charlie’s close friend
and his opposite in many ways. Frankie avoids fights and is
willing to bet on long shots. When he wins, he buys drinks
for everyone.
Patsy seems to have authority over Charlie and Frankie because he takes charge and makes major decisions for the
group. He has big ideas for the future and attempts to cash
in on any opportunities that come his way. He buys expensive items when he wins, and hocks them at a pawnshop
when he loses.
Mabel is Patsy’s girlfriend. A former showgirl, she quit her
job when she started associating with Patsy and his friends.
When he has money, Patsy buys her expensive gifts, which
she has to return when Patsy loses bets. Mabel isn’t involved
in the men’s gambling activities and is sometimes unaware of
their schemes.
Photo by David Cooper
Harry works as a bartender in a seedy hotel. He dreams of
opening his own place, an establishment with class. He doesn’t gamble because he’s afraid to lose his money. But when a
sure thing appears, he lays a bet.
Charlie lives in the hotel where Harry works. A tall man
who smokes cigarettes, Charlie is accustomed to both winning and losing money. A worrier who’s afraid of taking
risks, he usually bets on favourites.
8
Simon Bradbury
On a Horse
Writer, playwright and actor Simon Bradbury shares the
simple truth of how Three Men on a Horse came to be on the
stage of the Festival Theatre this season.
Three Men on A Horse first came up in a conversation between Jim Mezon and me in the summer of 1995. To the
best of my knowledge neither of us had spoken of the
play since. And it was certainly the last thing on my mind
when I bumped into Jim on the streets of Niagara-onthe-Lake one summer morning last year.
“What, you’re not answering your email nowadays?” he said as he kicked a leg over his bike. I was in
the middle of a hectic week and had not seen a computer
in ages. “What’s up?” I asked, intrigued to
know what kind of message would warrant
a prompt reply. Jim continued: “Jackie has
asked me to put together a list of plays I
would like to direct. Three Men was one of
them and it looks like it will get the green
light. Would you be interested in being in
it?”
“On A Horse?” I replied.
“No, on the stage,” he drawled.
“You remember us talking about it?”
Instantly, I did.
In 1995, we were rehearsing The Philanderer,
a raucous comedy by Bernard Shaw, in
which Jim was directing me in the title role.
To say that the cast was having fun would
have understated our rehearsal hall shenanigans. A grateful team hailed the delights of
working on such a ribald Shavian work. More akin to
bedroom farce than his usual fare, the salty, old aesthete
Shaw was hallooing the baser instincts and giving them
full dramaturgical honours. Our director, Mr Mezon, was
exploiting the comedy, as preview audiences were now
attesting, to riotous effect. Shaw has his own comedic
style, much of which is verbal. Although challenging and
fun to perform, our appetites had been whetted by the
physical comedy inherent in the play. Presumptuous talk
was made of tackling other projects that had a more situational comedic turn.
We knew that to suggest a play for the Festival meant
justifying the choice with something other than beerfueled enthusiasm. Thus ensued a sober calculation of
marketing strategies and logistical trends. The madcap British
comedies had disappeared in the evil eighties along with the
dotty French imbroglios. The big Festival shows other than
the flagship Shaw were the now popular American dramas
and comedies. Three Men came to mind as a more than suitable possibility. Self conscious of the simplicity of our amateur speculations, we decided to examine our proposal in
more detail.
Both Jim and I were familiar with the play. I had played
Frankie, the apparent youngest of the three gamblers, seven
years earlier. The experience was great fun as I worked with a
lauded cast and qualified director. The production had considerable merits and within the confines of a scant rehearsal
allotment, we did a remarkable job. The success of a comedy depends on meticulous choreography, which can take weeks to master. I
was aware of this long before I had encountered the abundant talents and more generous
rehearsals at The Shaw. Seven years later here I
was in a company with the resources to get the
most out of a play like Three Men. Jim, I believe, had seen the play elsewhere and agreed
that it had the potential for a successful run.
There are very few plot-driven plays that can
accommodate such wonderfully drawn characters as those in Three Men. We agreed that it
had elements of both the French and British
romps while remaining a distinctly American
play. Ultimately it seemed like a darned good
bet.
That summer came and went, and ‘Three Men’ disappeared
into the hazy netherworld of distant late nights. It was quite
forgotten. Not so, it appeared, by Mr Mezon.
“You remember us talking about it”? he asked.
“Of course, yeah.” I replied, quite gob smacked.
“Well, what do you think?”
“I’ll have to talk to my agent.” Pause. Grin. Rolling
of the eyes. “Yeah, of course I want to be in it. I’d be tickled
to death.”
“Good.”
We exchanged a few more words before Jim, pushed for
time, slipped his foot into the pedal of his bike and disappeared into the Queen Street mayhem.
9
Classroom Applications
The following pages suggest questions and activities students might explore
before attending the play.
Theme One
DIALOGUE AND SUBTTEXT
The following conversation occurs in a kitchen between two main characters (labeled A and B) at the start of the play:
A: What’s the matter? Something get in your eye?
B: I’ll be all right.
A: Gee, that’s too bad. It’s this dry spell we’re having. Dust everywhere.
B: Better drink your coffee before it gets cold.
A: Oh, yes.
B: You forgot your necktie.
A: Necktie? So I have. I couldn’t decide which one to wear.
B: You need some new ones, I guess.
A: No, no, I have plenty. Gee, I’m late.
B: You said you were going to stay home one day this week.
A: I know I did. But not today.
(Continued on next page)
10
ACTIVITY
In pairs, rehearse the conversation with one of these instructions to each pair of performers:
1. Character A and Character B are married. Character A is hiding something important from Character B.
Decide what Character A is hiding.
2. Character A and Character B are married. Character B is hiding something important from Character A.
Decide what Character B is hiding.
3. Character A and B are criminal partners. They’ve just committed a major robbery and are afraid of getting
caught.
4. Character A is Character B’s boss. Character B is frightened of Character A.
5. Character B is Character A’s boss. Character A is frightened of Character B.
6. Character A and Character B are stuck in an elevator. They are rivals at work and don’t like each other.
7. Character B is Character A’s mother. Character B feels unappreciated by her son. Character A feels smothered by his mother’s attention.
8. Character A and Character B are engaged to be married and have been planning their wedding. Character A
is unhappy with Character B’s ideas.
Once the conversation has been memorized and rehearsed, perform it without letting classmates know which instructions each pair received. Have the class guess various relationships and attitudes of the characters.
11
Theme 2
FAMILY TRIANGLES
One of the main characters (Audrey) in Three Men on a Horse has a husband (Erwin) and a brother (Clarence) who dislike
each other. The relationship among the three creates a triangle of comic friction in the play.
* Audrey is devoted to her husband and also sees no fault in her brother. She likes to spend money on her appearance and
often shops impulsively. She never keeps problems to herself, and calls upon her brother whenever anything goes wrong.
* Erwin works very conscientiously at a job that other people might consider trivial. Dutiful, serious and honest, he carefully keeps track of all household spending and questions his wife’s frequent need for new outfits.
*
Clarence is a rather unsuccessful businessman with grandiose plans that never seem to materialize. Very protective of his
sister, he has always been suspicious of Erwin’s honesty and intentions. He has very definite ideas about right and wrong,
and has no sense of humour.
ACTIVITY
Here’s the situation:
It’s an important day for Erwin at work. He’s getting ready to leave the house when he notices that his wife is upset.
A few moments earlier, Audrey had found something that made her think Erwin was keeping a secret from her.
Very upset, she immediately called Clarence and asked him to come over. She didn’t tell Clarence about her suspicions, although she did let him know that she was really unhappy about something. But Erwin does not have a secret.
He doesn’t know that Audrey found something incriminating and he doesn’t know that she called Clarence. He only
knows that she’s upset and he has to get to work on this important day. He’s on his way out the door when Clarence
arrives.
* In groups of three, using the descriptions of the characters and situation, your task is to improvise
the confrontation that takes place next.
* Before you start working on the scene, discuss with your group members: What is Erwin’s job? Why is
today an important day? What did Audrey find? What secret does she think Erwin is keeping? What business
is Clarence in? What was he doing when Audrey called? What does each character in the scene want? How
will they try to get what they want?
* While working on the scene, decide if it will end with the truth emerging or the misunderstanding continuing.
* Some misunderstandings are not cleared up easily. What obstacles will you devise in clearing Erwin of
Audrey’s suspicion?
*
Show the scenes to the class. Discuss differences in each group’s characterizations and endings.
Compare your ending of the scene to the play when you see it at the Shaw Festival.
12
Theme 3
A STRANGE POWER
Three Men on a Horse takes place in the 1930s, a decade of widespread economic depression, prohibition and speakeasy bars, gambling and rampant gang-related crime. One character in the play, a very law-abiding citizen, possesses a strange ability to pick winning
horses at the race-track.
DISCUSSION
Imagine you live in the setting of Three Men on a Horse and have the ability to pick winning racehorses.
Although your horses always win, you never bet.
Make the following decisions about your ability:
1. When and where did you first notice your talent?
2. How do you keep track of your race picks?
3. Why don’t you bet? What would happen if you did?
4. What conditions must be present in order for you to summon your power over the horse race?
5. Are you married? Do you have children? Or do you still live with your parents? Do you live alone?
6. Does anyone know about your talent?
Now imagine you are a small-time crook who discovers that a stranger has the power to pick winning horses at the race-track.
Make the following decisions as the crook:
1. How do you earn your money?
2. Do you make frequent bets on horses?
3. Where do you meet the stranger with the power to pick horses?
4. How do you discover his or her ability?
What do you do next?
13
ACTIVITY
* In pairs, A and B, create a short scene in which A plays the person who can pick winning horses and B plays the
crook. Using the individual decisions you have made about your characters, improvise the meeting between the
two of them.
* Then reverse roles and improvise the scene again, using your partner’s version of the character.
* In pairs, A and B, take the roles of a newspaper reporter and the person with the power to pick winning horses.
Conduct and write a newspaper interview; then switch partners and roles and complete the interview again.
DISCUSSION
Literature has provided us with stories of people who have strange powers to achieve wealth. Examples include the tale of King
Midas, and the short stories The Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence and The Monkey’s Paw by W.W Jacobs.
* Look up and read these stories on the Internet. Do the stories end happily or sadly?
* Why do you think these stories have similar endings? What message do they convey about acquiring wealth?
* How do you predict Three Men on a Horse will end? Are you surprised to learn that the play is a comedy?
14
Theme 4
THE USUAL SUSPECTS
Several characters in Three Men on a Horse are either directly or indirectly involved in gambling activities.
* Harry works as a bartender in a seedy hotel. He dreams of opening his own place, an establishment with class. He
doesn’t gamble because he’s afraid to lose his money. But when a sure thing appears, he lays a bet.
* Charlie lives in the hotel where Harry works. A tall man who smokes cigarettes, Charlie is accustomed to both winning and losing money. A worrier who’s afraid of taking risks, he usually bets on favorites.
* Frankie, who also lives in the hotel, is Charlie’s close friend and his opposite in many ways. Frankie avoids fights and
is willing to bet on long shots. When he wins, he buys drinks for everyone.
* Patsy seems to have authority over Charlie and Frankie because he takes charge and makes major decisions for the
group. He has big ideas for the future and attempts to cash in on any opportunities that come his way. He buys expensive items when he wins, and hocks them at a pawnshop when he loses.
* Mabel is Patsy’s girlfriend. A former showgirl, she quit her job when she started associating with Patsy and his friends.
When he has money, Patsy buys her expensive gifts, which she has to return when Patsy loses bets. Mabel isn’t involved
in the men’s gambling activities and is sometimes unaware of their schemes.
ACTIVITY
*
Select one of the characters from the descriptions above.
* Using the information provided about the character, select an animal that most appropriately matches the
character’s description.
*
Imagine the animal as a human character.
*
Using the animal as a model, experiment with the character’s posture and walk.
* In groups of 5, with each person playing one of the characters, practise a mime sequence in which the following events happen. The most important aspect of the exercise is to use the animals you have chosen to make your
character physically distinctive:
1. Charlie and Frankie enter and order drinks from Harry at the bar. They have lost most of their money and
don’t know where their next score is coming from.
2. Patsy arrives, having just pawned an expensive possession. He wonders where Mabel is.
3. Mabel arrives, having just pawned expensive dresses for a cheaper price than they’re worth.
*
Now imagine that the characters have all been arrested for a petty crime. Line them up in a group mug shot.
*
Write a rap sheet for your character. (A rap sheet is a police record of your character’s arrests.)
15
Theme 5
SETTING UP THE HICK
Small-time crooks in Three Men on a Horse want to use an unsophisticated stranger to help them make easy money.
ACTIVITY
Script-writing.
*
Using the characters of Charlie, Frankie and Patsy from the previous exercise, identify a plan they might concoct to
make some fast and easy money.
*
Identify an appropriate public setting for them to meet.
*
Imagine that an unsophisticated stranger enters the setting and begins a conversation with one of the men.
*
The stranger reveals information that interests Charlie, Frankie and Patsy because it suggests that the stranger can help
them in their moneymaking scheme.
*
In groups of three, discuss your ideas. Combine the best ones in order to write a scene that has three parts.
*
The first part of the scene shows Charlie, Frankie and Patsy making their original plans.
*
The second part of the scene introduces the stranger and reveals that he or she can be helpful to Charlie, Frankie and
Patsy.
*
The third part of the scene involves Charlie, Frankie and Patsy trying to befriend the stranger. The stranger resists their
offer at first, but then seems more interested.
*
Decide how the scene will end. Does the stranger help the crooks? If so, how? If not, how do Charlie, Frankie and
Patsy react?
*
In role, read your scenes aloud for the rest of the class. Compare ideas from each one. After watching Three Men on a
Horse, identify similarities between your scenes and events in the play.
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After attending Three Men On A Horse the class should be able to examine theatrical techniques and
ideas introduced by the play.
Theme 6
CREATING COMEDY
DISCUSSION
Three Men on a Horse begins on a weekday morning in the suburban kitchen of a husband
and wife who are about to eat breakfast.
* Early in the first scene, what clues suggested that the play was not going to be a realistic drama? What factors made the initial
conflict between Erwin and Clarence more humorous than serious?
* What elements of physicalization add comedy to the play?
* What elements of misunderstanding add comedy to the play?
* Incongruity, or the combining of apparently opposed actions and characters, provides humor in the play as well. For example,
it is incongruous that characters like Charlie, Frankie, and Patsy would deliberately copy sappy lines from Mother’s Day greeting
cards. Humor is created when the audience sees the intensity of their efforts to make sure they maintain the rhyme and rhythm of
Erwin’s poetry. What other uses of incongruity do you recall from the play?
ACTIVITY
*
In groups, assign the roles of Charlie, Frankie and Patsy.
*
Each group imagines a new character, not introduced in the play, who has something that Charlie, Frankie and
Patsy want.
*
The new character should have a problem to solve. How might Charlie, Frankie and Patsy get involved?
*
What chain of events would lead Charlie, Frankie and Patsy to become involved in activity that is incongruous with their
appearance and character?
*
How can you incorporate a misunderstanding into the scene?
In mime, portray Charlie, Frankie and Patsy attempting to help the fictitious new character. Your depiction will appear humorous if:
1. the audience can see the incongruity between your actions and your characters
2. your characters appear very intense in attempting to perform the actions correctly
3. your characters have physical difficulties to overcome in performing the actions
4. your characters’ attempts to solve problems create new problems.
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Theme 7
VIEWPOINTS
BASED ON PERSPECTIVE
Characters in plays are revealed by their actions, their words, and the words of others. Through monologues, different characters in
Three Men on a Horse reveal various aspects of Erwin’s character.
* Clarence: The horse - he must have had a sure tip. That little book of his is full of sure tips. He’s been cleaning up. All the
time he’s been playing poor and talking about how he couldn’t afford things, he’s been rich - he’s had winnings enough in the last
few weeks to spend the rest of his life loafing. He’s got deposits in a dozen savings banks - when I saw that little book yesterday
it all came across to me clear - in fact I went down to the bookies in the afternoon to put a thousand dollars on Brass Monkey
and then I was afraid of some trickery and I changed my mind. But the worm had his roll on that race - he had every cent - and
he cleaned up and you’ll never see him again. Why couldn’t he have come to me as man to man and told me about it? That
would have been the thing to do. No, but he’s selfish - keeps it all to himself - wouldn’t look me in the eye - I knew something
was wrong - Eight to one it paid - but that worm held out on me.
* Patsy: Mr. Carver? Hello, Carver. This is a very good friend of Mr Erwin Trowbridge - in fact, I’m his manager - the verses
are all written. They’re gems. That’s what they are. Before I send them around, I thought we’d discuss terms. Those verses
are the best verses I’ve read and I’ve read a lot of verses - What I thought was this - we might as well talk man to man you’re getting away with murder. Forty bucks a week - that’s what I call a steal. (to Erwin) Don’t you know you rate more
than that? Don’t you know that big crook is cheating the hell out of you? Here you are starving on forty a week, while that
big piece of salami is living high with swell offices in the Wedgewood Building. And he made it all off you.
* Mr. Carver: Erwin’s a man that’s a reliable citizen - worth more than you or any of you - in his way. And he’s gone! Where?
Nobody knows…I know where he is. Writing verses for a rival concern…I’ve figured it out. Thought I didn’t appreciate him
’cos I didn’t pat him on the back every minute - long comes some sneak - gives him a lot of sugar and steals him away - no justice
anywhere - never was - never will be…He’s afraid of everybody - just a poet. Just lives in himself…Erwin wasn’t so good at first.
He had the feeling, the warmth and the inspiration to be a top-notch greeting card man, but he didn’t have the technique. I
taught him all I knew - I worked and struggled to bring him up, up the ladder and then someone steals him from me.
(continued on next page)
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ACTIVITIES
Sharing a monologue.
* In groups of three, decide which of the monologues you want to learn as a group. Everyone in the group will
take sections of the monologue however you want to break it up.
*
Practise the monologue so that everyone in the group portrays the same attitude in their manner of speech.
*
Rehearse the monologues until they are memorized with great seriousness.
*
Perform the monologues for the class.
∗
Discuss the information in the monologues. Do they provide an accurate portrayal of Erwin’s character? Why
is it important to know who the speaker is when evaluating opinions expressed?
Creating a monologue.
*
With your group members, decide on another character who has a strong opinion about Erwin.
*
In your group, create a monologue expressing that character’s views about Erwin.
*
Perform the monologues for the class.
*
Discuss the complexities of information that are revealed in monologues. How does the audience know what
information is accurate and what information is false? Is there any such thing as an accurate monologue about
a character?
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Theme 8
GREETING CARD SENTIMENTS
Humour is created in the play when various characters take the messages written on greeting cards very seriously.
Below are four greeting card verses from the play. Your task is to perform one or
more of these messages with as much heart-felt intensity as possible. Add actions to
your performance. If possible, create a tune and sing the verse. Remember—the seriousness
of your approach will create the intended humorous effect.
ACTIVITIES
Verse 1
At Christmas tide your hair was gray
But memories chased your cares away
Now lovingly in my simple way
I send you love on Mother’s Day
Verse 2
When I was young and on your knee
You told a nursery rhyme to me
But now I’ve grown a man to be
I send my love in rhyme to thee.
Verse 3
Why was it that I chose to roam
Cross land and sea so far from home?
If that be life, my Mother dear
I send this card of love and cheer.
Verse 4
My soul was sad as darkest night
But now the world seems fair and bright
Because you came so true and fine
Oh stay and be my Valentine.
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GLOSSARY OF THEATRE TERMS
BLOCKING: The actor’s movement on stage is known as
“blocking”. The Stage Manager writes the blocking notation
into the Prompt Script.
COSTUME: Anything that an actor wears on stage is referred to as a costume. The Wardrobe department (the department responsible for creating costumes) provides clothes,
shoes, hats, and any personal accessories such as umbrellas,
purses and eyeglasses.
DROP: A drop is a large piece of painted canvas that is
“flown in” by the flyman (see FLYMAN).
GREEN ROOM: The green room, usually near the entrance to the stage, is where the actors and crew sit while
waiting for their turn to go on stage. One possible explanation of how the green room got its name is that actors used
to wait for their entrances at the back of the theatre in an
area where the scenery was stored. Perhaps the scenery was
green, or the name “scene room” evolved into “green room”.
ORCHESTRA PIT: The orchestra pit is the place where
the musicians perform during a musical. Usually the orchestra
pit is between the front row of the audience and the stage.
PROPS: A property or “prop” is anything that the audience
sees that is not worn by an actor and is not a structural part
of the set. Some examples are: tables, chairs, couches, carpets, pictures, lamps, weapons, food eaten during a play,
dishes, cutlery, briefcases, books, newspapers, pens, telephones, curtains and anything else you can imagine.
PROSCENIUM: A term describing the physical characteristics of a theatre. A proscenium theatre is one in which the
audience and the actors are separated by a picture-frame
opening that the audience looks through to see the actors.
Surrounding this opening is the PROSCENIUM ARCH. If
there is an acting area on the audience side of the proscenium
arch, it is referred to as the APRON or FORESTAGE.
SCRIM: A scrim is a piece of gauze that is painted and used
as part of the scenery. When a scrim is lit from in front it is
opaque, you cannot see through it. When a scrim is lit from
behind it is transparent, you can see through it. This allows
for many different visual effects to be created by the lighting
and set designers.
THRUST STAGE: A thrust stage is a stage that is surrounded on three sides by the audience.
WHO WORKS IN A THEATRE
DIRECTOR: The person who guides the actors during the
rehearsal period. The director decides what the important
messages of the play are and how they will be conveyed to
the audience.
DESIGNERS: The people who work with the director to
decide what the production will look like. Designers must
choose the colour, shape and texture of everything you see
on the stage. There are several areas that need to have designers: costumes, set, lighting and sometimes sound. The designers work very closely with the director to create the environment in which the play will take place.
DYER: The person who dyes fabrics for the Wardrobe department.
FLYMAN: The person responsible for the manipulation of
the scenery which is in the fly gallery (the space above the
stage). The scenery is manipulated by ropes attached to a
counterweight system.
MILLINER: The person who makes the hats which the
actors wear on stage.
PROPS BUYER: The person who buys items that will be
used or adapted to become props. Props buyers also purchase the raw material used to build props.
SCENIC ARTISTS: The people who are responsible for
painting and decorating the surfaces of the set. Some of the
techniques they use include: wood graining, stenciling, marbling and brickwork. They also paint the drops and scrims
that are flown in.
STAGE CARPENTER: The person who ensures that
everything runs smoothly on stage during a performance.
The stage carpenter and stage crew are responsible for changing the sets between scenes and acts.
STAGE MANAGER: The person who makes sure that all
rehearsals and performances run smoothly. During a performance the stage manager also makes sure that all of the
technical elements (e.g. lights, sound, curtains flying in and
out) happen at exactly the right time.
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: The person who is responsible for coordinating all of the technical elements of a production. Technical directors work with the people who build the
sets, props, costumes, wigs and special effects to make sure
that everything runs smoothly.
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Three Men on a Horse
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